:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/shawmedia/A6Z5P4C4Z6M6EPR6DHOTCHRBEA.jpg)
WOODSTOCK – Nearly 13 minutes of offensive stagnation on Monday doomed Woodstock North's hopes of advancing from their regional quarterfinal against Belvidere.
The Thunder went 12:57 of game time, stretching from the 2:31 mark of the first quarter through the entire second and to the 5:14 mark of the third, without scoring a field goal. When the drought started, they were tied with the Bucs. By the time it ended, they had been outscored 15-3 and the Bucs were in control.
Belvidere turned a 21-12 halftime lead into a 33-18 advantage by the end of the third and went on to beat Woodstock North 48-30 in a 3A Woodstock Regional quarterfinal at Woodstock.
"That second, third, I don't know," Thunder coach Steve Ryan said. "Belvidere came out and put a lot of pressure on our guards out front and we just kind of kept backing away instead of attacking out of pressure. It came down to making shots, Belvidere made shots and we just didn't. ...
"It's been something that we've had all year, we've just got to put that basketball in the hole. That takes care of a lot of things when you can score. Defensively I thought we were doing fine. To give up, what, 21 points at half, I'll give that. The kids did their job on defense, offensively we just didn't execute."
Woodstock North (5-19) was led by 10 points from Collin Mergl, eight of which came in the fourth quarter. Marshall Coalson added seven points.
No. 6 Belvidere (14-16) advances to face No. 2 Marengo in the regional semfinals at 7 p.m. Tuesday. Deante Barnes led the Bucs with 14 points while Nate Horton added 10.
In the second game of the night, Genoa-Kingston used aggressive press defense and 14 3-pointers to beat Harvard, 68-33.
Genoa-Kingston was led by Tommy Lucca who scored 19 points, 12 coming in the first quarter. Zach Miller hit three 3-pointers in the third quarter and finished with 15 points. Brady Huffman hit four 3s, all in the second quarter, and finished with 14 points.
"We get to the first, second, third pass and then the fourth or fifth pass would find a guy for a wide-open 3," Harvard coach Donnie Nolen said. "The guys, we're outsized, they worked their butts off just trying to get there and their guys can still raise up and shoot over us. That's a good shooting team, that's a very good shooting team and they've proved it all year long."
By halftime, the Cogs led 44-13, holding Harvard to just one field goal in the second quarter.
The fifth-seeded Cogs (19-9) will face the hosts, No. 3 Woodstock, at 7 p.m. on Wednesday in the regional semifinals.
Harvard (10-19) didn't have a scorer in double digits, but 10 Hornets got on the scoresheet, led by Roy Amaya Jr. with six points and Austin Garza Edwards with four.
Unsung hero:
Luis Garcia, Harvard, Sr. G.
Garcia did most of the ball handling for Harvard late in the game and was aggressive both offensively and defensively. He finished with three points after being fouled on a fourth-quarter layup and making his free throw.
The number: 12:57
scoreless minutes of game time for Woodstock North, during which the Thunder went from being tied 11-11 to trailing 26-14.
And another thing...
"I'm so impressed with my guys, they will not quit, even the little bittiest guy. There's so much fire in them. They'll just keep working their butts off," Harvard coach Donnie Nolen said.